Caged 2: All The World's A Cage
by Rushing'Beauty'Wonder
Summary: Part 2 to Caged. Azula has a new person in her cage and finds that only time can heal old wounds. Bad sum. Please R and R..


I wasn't going to do a second part to caged, but I enjoyed writing the fic. This story will have a few chapters, but I'm not sure how many. You should read Caged part 1 just to know what's going on, but if you want you don't have too.

Caged 2: All the world's a cage

The woman gasped, "Azula, let me out."

The Fire Lord laughed and moved from the bars. If the woman thought she would be let out she had another thing coming. She wondered why her father wanted Zuko and now she knew. A simple trade off of mother and son, they would never see each other. It was almost sad, she got to see father once or twice a month, but they would never see each other. If she was any other person she would be sad for them, but she was Azula. Master fire bender, Fire Lord, and on most days a cold hearted woman. She felt nothing for them, maybe Zuko, but not her mother, "I don't think so. You see I just gave father my favorite prisoner and he gave me his. You will work to become my favorite and in time maybe you will know small freedoms/"

Ursa looked at the girl, she was mad because she was going to be the prisoner of her own child. She didn't even know who the girl was at first, it made this too hard for her. She looked at the Azula, "Please let me out/"

"No. You will stay here and get over it. I know father treated you bad, but I won't treat you like he did. Now you better grow to like that cage, because it's your new home." the Fire Lord said.

Azula watched the woman lower her head in defeat, knowing it wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last. She almost felt a tinge of pain near her heart for Ursa, then it went away. Her mind would not let her heart feel pain for the woman who had abandoned her and let her feel unloved most of her life. The fire bender recalled moments lost as a child and how she felt left out.

…...

_Azula looked around the toy room she shared with her brother and a sneered covered her once soft face. Zuko's side of the room was covered in drawings and paintings he had done with their mother and Uncle. Their were pictures from trips they had taken to Ember Island, trips Azula had not able to go on for one reason or another. Whether it be she had training with her father or she had been a "bad girl" and their mother told her she had to stay with her father. She had not been on one of the trips and it actually hurt her. She had wanted to go and play with them too, to visit the zoos and see plays, but she was left behind. _

_As her young eyes watered, they fell on the book shelves on Zuko's side of the room lined with books. Her mother had not read to her in months and Azula didn't even know why, she didn't mind having her mother read to her. She use to do it three or four times a week, but she had not came to the room in weeks and Azula went to bed with no story. _

_The young bender tried to stop the tears that burned her eyes, but she failed and they spilled free. Her side of the room was almost bare, expect for the toys given to her from her father. She had a few fire bending toys and a bunch of fire nation style dolls. Their was a few stuffed animals and even a bike she had only used because it made Zuko jealous, he didn't have one. Their was a set of music boxes Azula had not touched, because she liked them and didn't want them to get broken. The last thing she had a doll house. It was the oldest thing in the room and was a family heir loom, passed down to her. It was from her mother's side of the family and since she got it, it had only been used a few times. _

_Azula looked around the room and sighed, she hated the room. It was the worst place in the palace and she knew what had to be done. She couldn't bear to be the room and if she couldn't have fun in it, nether would Zuko. The fire bender felt a rush of unused chi pool inside her, although Azula was young she knew this chi was from anger and hate;The perfect kind she needed for this job. Her hands opened and she punched the air. The biggest fire ball she had ever seen came from her hand. The edges burned white hot and the flames looked to be blue. Azula had never seen blue fire before and something about it made all the hair on her neck raise. _

_She watched the fire finally hit her brother's side of the room and then it burst. The blast alone knocked her back into the wall behind her and the room shake. She could see the flames eating the pictures and drawings. Leaving nothing but ash and waste in it's wake. She couldn't fight off the feeling of joy at the sight of the room burning. It made a body tingle with joy and a feeling of revenge. She got up off the floor and started to walk to the doors leading out of the room. Before she walked out, she looked back at the doll house. It was shining bright next to the flames and it looked beautiful. The red wood shined and the gold parts glistened. She almost didn't want to do it, but she had too. A burst of flames shot from her hand and shallowed the house. The walls burned and the doll looked more beautiful burning, then it ever did just siting in the playroom. _

_Before she could walk out Ursa ran into the room. Azula watched her mother's golden eyes look around the room and see only Zuko's side of the room was burning and that the doll house was almost a pile of ashes. The young fire bender felt a string of pain, when she saw the tears in her mother's eyes and how sad the woman looked. She followed her mother's eyes to see her watching Zuko's things burning and his side of the room look like it exploded. Her heart almost wanted to say sorry, until she felt the draw of eyes on her. She looked up to find her mother staring at her, the woman looked upset beyond anything Azula had seen before. _

"_Azula did you do this?" Ursa spoke._

_Azula cringed at the tone her mother was using. It the voice her mother used whenever she was disappointed with her. Azula had never heard her speak like that to her brother and it made her wonder if she was the only person her mother was disappointed with. She looked away and saw her brother standing not to far from them. Azula knew he could see into the room and hoped he saw his things burning. She hoped he felt pain and loss, she wanted him to know her pain. _

_She looked up at her mother and smiled, "Yes." _

_She watched Ursa's face search hers for any sign she was joking, but before she got a good look Azula started to walk off. The child pushed past her mother and walked by Zuko, who had tears running down his face. She walked until she couldn't hear the sound of the burning. _

…...

The Fire Lord brushed off the memory of burning the playroom and looked up at her mother. The woman was siting on the floor now, with her hands in her lap and her head still down.

Azula pressed herself to the bars, "Mother?"

The older woman looked up at her, "Azula, I'm sorry for whatever I did to you."

The fire bender couldn't even believe what she just heard. What was the woman sorry for? For leaving her as a child or for abandoning her for Zuko? Was she only sorry now because she was locked in this cage and couldn't get out? Azula had too many questions in her head, too many past memories were trying to break free, "It's too late for that. You can't take it back and nothing can change what you did to me. So get comfortable and enjoy your new home."

…...

1 Month Later

Ursa looked at her daughter and sighed, she was still locked up. She had pleaded with the younger girl for days, but had finally given up after Azula threated to take everything out of her cell. Azula had told her that the person here before her, had gained rights that would be passed on to her. There was a bed and bath tub in the cage, things Azula said she should be thankful for and she was. It was better then life with her husband, with him she was barley bathed and had to sleep on dirt, unless he said other wise.

"Mother, what are you thinking?"

Ursa looked up to see Azula watching her, amber eyes bore into hers and she let out a breath, "Nothing. Why?"

"Just asking. You don't say much and I was wondering why?" Azula spoke. Her tone was easy and cool.

"I do not know. I have many questions, but I'm not sure if you would answer them." Ursa said.

"You are allowed to ask whatever you want." Azula smiled at her.

Ursa pulled her eyes away from the girl and sighed, their were too many things she needed to know and she knew they all wouldn't be answered. She had to choose a few and hope for the best, "How long will I be here?"

Azula smiled, "As long as it takes."

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Whatever I want."

"Where is Zuko?"

Ursa looked up to find the girl's smiled replaced with a sneer, wrong question. She should have waited, but she wanted to know if he was all right and had to ask her. She watched as the fire bender walked away from her and then left the room. It seemed she was upset.

…...

6 Months Later

Ursa watched Azula as the girl talked with two young woman, she was sure they were from the girl's harem. In the time she had been in her cage, she had seen tons of woman flow in and out of the room. Some she had only seen once, others ha been there countless times. She wondered if this was normal for the girl and how long she had been like this. Her eyes followed the women as they left and Azula closed the door and looked at her, "Yes, Azula."

"How are you?" the Fire Lord spoke.

Ursa ran a hand though her hair, "As good as it can get for someone who is in a cage."

Azula watched her with golden eyes, "Be happy for yourself."

Ursa looked at the girl and wondered when did she come to be so much like her father, "Happy I'm in a cage or never able to walk free. There is no happiness in this cage."

Azula's eyes flashed with anger, "Well you better find some. You could be with father, half dead and abused. Yet, I let you stay my room with food, clothing and shelter. Your injures from months ago are just finishing healing and your complaining I miss treat you. I haven't put a hand on you."

Ursa had to bite back tears, "I just wan-"

Azula cut her off, "I don't care what you want. I've treated you as kind as I can. For all the things you've done to me and the way you made me feel as a child, I still treat you kindly."

"Azula...please. I'm just tired of being in here." Ursa said. She couldn't take much more of the fighting with Azula and boredom was taking a toll on her.

Azula looked at her and sighed, "Too bad."

…...

5 Months Later

"Mother you have been in this cage for a year now." Azula said.

She was inside her mother's cage and was was sitting on the edge of the woman's bed. It was mid afternoon and the older woman was dozing lightly. She looked better then she had a year ago. When she first came she was covered in bruises and burn marks. Now she healthy and taken care of, only a few scars covered her body. She was given new clothing everyday and was able to bathe whenever she wanted. Azula thought she had treated her well, "Mother time to wake up."

Ursa rolled over and looked at Azula, "Do you have something planed today?" She would have known if anything was planed. Azula had taken enough time to repair her health for her own reasons, one of them being having her play host to guest of the palace. Her other motives for helping Ursa was unknown, but the older woman knew it was something.

"Yes. First you will get dressed and then we have a long talk about your...son." Azula got up and quickly closed the cage door, before Ursa could run out.

"What about him? Where is he?" Ursa pulled on her cell's door.

"Get dressed and I will tell you." Azula said. She watched as the woman quickly threw off her sleeping robe and pulled on a simple set of red and gold robes. All this for the answer to the questions she had plagued Azula with for months.

Ursa caught Azula watched her out of the corner of her eye and pulled her clothing on even faster, the girl's gaze reminded her of her ex-husband's and it made her terrified. When she was done she moved to door of her cage, "What's going on?"

Azula sighed, "Well, first he is with father. I was given a letter last night from Zuko."

Ursa felt her eyes water, "Is he safe?"

Azula smiled, "Well he wrote a letter, but their's no telling if is was written by him. Anyways Father has had him for a year and has been treating him like dirt. The conditions are horrible and Zuko told me he has been getting very sick lately. Father let him write the letter as a treat or prize of some kind."

Ursa looked at her as tears ran down her face, "Can we visit him?"

Azula laughed slightly, "Mother, you ask too much. Father would not allow it and neither would I."

"Azula...please. I haven't seen him in so long and...i...just want...to be reminded...of...him."Ursa was crying now.

"Go to his old room and look around or you could go to the royal picture room and see the last couple of pictures of him. I can not allow you to visit father." Azula said.

Ursa sink to the room in a pile of red and gold. Azula thought she looked pretty, with her golden eyes darkened until they looked at least to be a very dark yellow and her cheeks rosy. She decided she had enough of the woman's waiting, "Get up and lets go."

Ursa looked up at her, "Where?"

"So you can see a picture of him."

…...

6 Months Later

Ursa sat in a chair across from Azula as they ate dinner. It was the first time they had sat like this without bars between them, "Why don't you have a husband?"

Azula looked at her smiled, "Because I do not want one. Why are you without yours?"

Ursa sneered lightly, but not enough to offend the girl, "Because I'm here and isn't time you took a husband. Your twenty years old and by this time most girls are married and are starting families."

"And have some man try to take my Empire and what I worked hard for. I will not reign under some man, who never did half the work I did. I will take a wife if it pleases you." Azula smiled at her.

Ursa frowned, "How will you get heirs?"

"I already have a suitor for that, I will have children, but will not marry him." Azula sipped a small cup of rice wine.

"Oh."

…...

1 Year Later

"Now...what did you want?" Azula said. She was laying on her bed, as her mother laid next to her. The older woman had woken her up and now was acting like she didn't want anything.

"I can't believe he's gone."

Azula laughed, "Why not? You haven't seen him in years, we only got letters in his last months. He was dying and we couldn't help."

Ursa pulled the sheets closer to her, making Azula hold her, "But...he was so young. I wish I could have saw him once."

Azula warped her arm around the woman. It was the first time she had let the woman get this close to her and the first time she had let her in her bed. It was near two in the morning and they earlier found out Zuko had died while with father. She had been sent a letter and then told his ashes would be sent to her. Then the fire bender had to tell her mother, who broke down after she found out. The woman had cried to the point Azula was forced to comfort her. The fire bender had to say she was sad, but would never let her mother see her crying, "Well, we have his letters and his ashes will be here soon. So...perk up."

Ursa let a few tears slide down her face and then wiped them away, "But he's gone."

"I know." Azula whispered.

Ursa turned over to look at Azula, "Don't you feel anything for him? He was your brother."

Azula sneered, before she pushed her mother to the floor, "I feel nothing that concerns you."

Ursa looked at the girl and could clearly see her husband. Azula looked like Ozai just spit her out and gave her a different name, "Calm down Azula."

The fire bender breathed a stream of blue flames, "Whatever. Get up and get back into bed."

Ursa stood up and tightened her sleeping robe, "Okay."

...

2 Months later

"You shouldn't smoke."

Azula looked up form her opium pipe and smiled at the older woman, "Says who? I'm a grown woman, who is currently doing nothing else."

Ursa leaned back in a plush chair and looked at the girl, or she should say looked at the woman. She had been lounging around Azula's bedroom for weeks now, outside her cage. It was a very odd experience, but one she enjoyed. Their were also many freedoms that came with having the girl's trust. She could have dinner with Azula and had access to most of the palace. It was a treat she was thankful for.

"So...what are we doing tonight?"

Azula leaned back and smiled, "I do not know. What do you suggest?"

Ursa looked at her daughter and sighed, "Whatever you want."

Azula quickly sat up and moved closer to Ursa, "Don't say things like that without thinking of the aftermath. Tonight could be filled with pleasure or I can bury you in pain and hurt. Pick one."

Ursa laughed, until she looked it Azula and say the girl was serious. The older woman's mind couldn't warp around what the girl said, "...Wh..What?"

Azula blow smoke out her nose and then put the pipe down, "You heard me...pleasure or pain?"

Ursa wondered if the girl was speaking like this because of the drugs or was she really interested in her sexually. Both reasons brothered Ursa and she had no answer to the girls question, but she knew Azula expected her to pick one. She couldn't decide which one was worse, pleasure sounded the best, but pain seemed more of Azula's style. The woman was known for sinister activity when bored, from throwing fire balls at random people to smacking servants. Ursa knew Azula liked to watch others suffer, but did she want to suffer for the girl, "Pleasure."


End file.
